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Evidence for Pre-Columbian Animal Domestication in the New World

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Evidence for Pre-Columbian Animal Domestication in the New World Evidence for Pre-Columbian Animal Domestication in the New World D.L. Johnson B.K. Swartz, Jr. Ball State University Muncie, Indiana The criteria traditionally used to determine animal domestication were proposed by Galton (1865:134,136) and are: (1) economic usefulness to man; (2) the ability to breed freely under confinement; and (3) the ease by which they are tended (tameness). Of these, captive breeding is crucial and will be used in this study, although usefulness is also i~portant. Tameness is not vital to domestication and may be impossible to prove, as in the case of apiculture, where the animals cannot be safely handled. Here we will discuss seven animals domesticated in the New World before European discovery. The dog, "llama", guinea pig, turkey, Muscovy duck, stingless bee, and the cochineal insect comprise the list of known Pre­ Columbian, New World animal domesticates. We will present and evaluate the evidence, both archaeological and documentary, for domestication of these seven animals, including bone morphology; associated paraphernalia of domestication, such as stone corrals, sacrificial burials, pottery, figurines; and the writtings of European conquerors, explorers, naturalists, missionaries, ethnographers, and the native peoples themselves. Domesticated Dogs; Canis familiaris There is no question that the dog was found domesticated in the New World at the time of European discovery; the archaeological and documentary evidence is conclusive (Colton 1970; Landa 1566 - Tozzer trans. 1941; Lawrence 1971; Olsen 1976, 1985; MacNeish 1966). Questions arise, however, as to whether the dog was domesticated in the New World independently of the Old World, or was introduced into the New World already domesticated, or even was originally domesticated in the New World. At the present time, the earliest dates of domesticated dogs in the world come from North America, at Jaguar Cave in Idaho, with radicarbon dates of 9500 BC and 8400 BC (Lawrence 1971:43). Of the Jaguar Cave material, Olsen (1985:31) says: 34 One would not expect to find these early dogs in a locality so far south as the Jaguar Cave rock-shelter without finding remains in sites closer to the Bering Strait. Finding the remains •..was due to the discovery and excavation of a rock-shelter site; less inviting sites, as yet unknown, between Jaguar Cave and the Bering Strait may, of course, hold equally important early dogs. Remains of another early domestic dog were found at Ventan~ Cave west of Tucson, Arizona in a layer associated with the Chiricah~a-Amargosa II culture complex and a radiocarbon date of 9500 BC (Colton 1970:153). There is some question about the context of that date. Haury rejects the antiquity of this date and suggests th~t this dog is probably associated with the Hohokam culture a thousand years ago (1950:159). In the period between 1932-1953, twenty-eight more or less complete short faced wolf Canis Lupis familiaris skulls were found north and west of Fairbanks, Alaska, associated with a radiocarbon date of 8,000 BC. They have the closest morphological appearance to, and appear to be the forerunners of, contemporary domesticated Eskimo dogs (Olsen 1985:22). .Olsen (1977) has discussed the possibility that the dogs were domesticated from the small, short faced Chinese wolf. Early evidence that dogs were used as food comes from the Tehuacan Valley, at 6500-4900 BC (Flannery 1967:168). AT Colima, pottery figurines of dogs holding corn cobs in their mouths, ca. AD 600, may indicate that the dogs were fattened on-corn before being eaten (Burleigh and Brothwell 1978:359). Dog bone heads were found at the Awatovi site (Olsen 1976:102,104). It is virtually impossible to identify characteristics of domestication from a carved bone. It must be assumed by the association with known domestic dogs and carved bone. Dog bone was also used in sacrifice (Landa 1566 - Tozzer trans. 1941:203). Camelids; the ·Llamas· Domesticated camelids are found throughout the Andes, parts of Central America and western Patagonia (Earle 1961:46-47). The llama, alpaca and vicuna all derive from the wild guanaco (Kenworthy 1975:46). The four varieties will be collectively referred to as "llamas" in this paper wherever that term is enclosed in quotes. 35 Evidence of "llama" domestication occurs in the Puna of Junin, central Peruvian highlands (Wheeler Pires­ Ferreia, et ale 1976:489). Remains in Level 4, relatively dated between 4200 BC and 2500 BC, show the change in bone morphology associated with the shift from wild to domesticated "llamas". Examination of camelid bone morphology from deposits in the Atacama Desert show the gradual development of the "blue rim", a thick layer of collagen on the bone surface, visible under microscopic study. This is a characteristic of domesticated "llamas" (Pollard and Drew 1975:229-304), and indicates that "llamas" were gradually domesticated during the period between 4200 BC and 2400 BC. A s t one corral with twenty centimeters of llama dung in the bottom was encountered adjacent to a ceramic workshop in the Moche' Valley (Porzorski 1976:130). One layer of dung 3 meters thick contained plant material (maize stalks, cobs and leaves, and algarrobo seeds) suggesting that crop-waste was fed to "llamas" (Shimada and Shimada 1985:15). Modelled clay figurines and vessels depicting llamas carrying packs and figurines of copulatj.ng llamas wearing harnesses suggest that llama breeding was controlled (Shimada and Shimada 1985:5. fig.1a). Aside from their use as food, domesticated llamas were also used to transport cargo (Prescott 1843:806) and copper ore (Shimada and Shimada 1985:15), the fleece of all varieties was used for production of wool (Prescott 1843:807), in some areas "llamas" were milked (Shimada and Shimada 1985:3), and were sacrificed in religious ceremonies (Meggars 1966:149; Porzorski 1979:167; Strong and Evans 1952:31). In 1532, members of the Pizzaro expedition noted huge herds of llamas. Miguel de Estete wrote of llamas kept in herds and used for food in 1534. De Cuenca recorded Indian testimony about large herds in Northern Peru during his journey of 1566-1567. He spoke of eight corrals made of mud and stone for butchering and sacrificing the llamas (Shimada and Shimada 1985:17). Fully domesticated llamas had spread throughout the lowlands by 700-600 BC (Shimada and Shimada 1985:3). Guinea pig; the Cavy; Cavia porcellus The guinea pig, or cavy, is indigenous to the Andes. Remains of the earliest known fully domesticated form were recovered from Pikimachay Cave in the highlands of Peru, ca. 5000 BC (Stahl and Norton 1987:385). The guinea pig was found in the Culebras Complex ca. 1800 BC 36 (Lanning 1967:63), and in association with monumental architecture at Huaca ca. 1300-600 BC (Shimada and Shimada 1985:8). Guinea pigs were also found in association with human burials in the Ayalan cemetary in Ecuador, as were Muscovy ducks, dating to ad 500 (Hesse 1980) . Meggers (1972:123) notes that guinea pigs were raised inside houses, and that they began to play an important role in the economy at an early time (Meggars 1972:46). Due to their high fertility and ease of maintenance, they ranked with sea food as the most important source of protien in the diets of the coastal Peruvians (Stahl and Norton 1987:385). Throughout the Andes, guinea pigs were most commonly kept as a food source, although they were also used as sacrificial offerings, an antidote to sorcery, and for the diagnosis and cure of illness -(Bolton 1979:263-239). MUsco~' Ducks; Carina moschata In them Ecuadorian lowlands, Muscovy ducks were domesticated between 700 BC and 600 BC, called the "Historic" Period, and were associated with burials in the cemetary at Ayalan at AD 500 (Hesse 1980). The 1987 discovery of an intact Moche' warrior-priest tomb at: Sipan, Peru, dated to AD 290, gives us a unique look into the culture of this Andean civilization. Included in the adornment of the warrior-priest were m~rror image ear ornaments believed to depict a stylized Muscovy duck (Alva 1988:546-547). Meggars (1966:123) mentions a large duck that was kept i~side houses in Ecuador. The ducks were used for a number of purposes. Their meat was used as food--early explorer Cieza de Leon mentioned a duck raised in coastal Ecuadorian houses for food, as a sacrificial animal, and their dried meat made an aromatic powder (Stahl and Norton 1978:386). Turkeys; Meleagris gallopavo Turkeys are found throughout North and Central America. Domesticated turkey bones appear in the Tehuacan Valley sequence early in the Palo Blanco phase, ca. AD 180. This is the oldest reliably dated evidence for the domestic turkey in Mesoamerica (Flannery 1966:175). MacNeish (1966:290) points to the hybridization of turkeys, as evidence by bones found at Tehuacan, as proof 37 that the turkey was domesticated. Bones found in the Northwest of Mexico and the Southwest United States, with earlier dates, as well as genetic similarities amoung present day domestic and wild turkey populations in the "Southwest United States, indicate that domesticated turkeys spread from the greater Southwest to Tehuacan" (1966: 19-5) . Analysis of coproliths, radiocarbon dating ca. AD 180, from the Tehuacan Valley shows the presence of turkey feathers and bees in the diets of the people living there (Callen 1966:273, 265). Turkey bones found in the basin-valley sites in the Northern Sierra suggest that the bird was originally taken from its mountain habitat and penned in the lower valley villages (Di Peso 1977:7) . Three varieties of turkeys were found at Casas Grandes, ca. AD 250. They were: 1) the Small Indian Domestic, -most popular at the New Mexico Tompiro pueblos in the Rio Grande drainage; 2) the Large Indian Domestic, resembling birds from east central Arizona; and 3) the Tse Tala.
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